National University of Singapore researchers have announced the development of a microchip that captures visual details from video frames using 20 times less power than existing chips, which runs on a much smaller battery than conventional devices.

Credit: NUS News

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) say they have developed EQSCALE, a microchip that captures visual details from video frames using 20 times less power than existing chips, and runs on a much smaller battery than conventional devices.

The team says this could result in technologies that are powered continuously by a millimeters-sized solar cell without the need for battery replacement.

They also think EQSCALE could pave the way for cost-effective Internet of Things applications.

The video feature extractor captures visual details taken by a smart camera and reduces them into a smaller set of points of interest and edges for further analysis.

The researchers note EQSCALE also performs continuous feature extraction using just 0.2 milliwatts of electricity, which they say is a major advancement in the level of miniaturization for smart vision systems.

"Energy-quality scaling allows correct object recognition even when a substantial number of points of interests are missed due to the degraded quality of the target," says NUS professor Massimo Alioto.